Food as a Weapon in Yemen - The targeting of food security in a New War
(2020) FKVK02 20201Department of Political Science
- Abstract (Swedish)
- 24 million people in war-torn Yemen were in 2019 in need of humanitarian aid. Delivery of aid has been hindered by parties to the conflict in what is best described as a strategic weaponization of food. The use of food as a weapon in Yemen requires thorough investigation, but there is a lack of research on the topic. Through a qualitative analysis of the single case of Yemen, this study identifies several aspects of the strategy used to target food security, including diversion of aid but also disruptions of markets and decreased agricultural production. As a possible perspective is also to see this alternative form of warfare as a characteristic of the changed nature of modern conflict, this study further discusses how weaponization of... (More)
- 24 million people in war-torn Yemen were in 2019 in need of humanitarian aid. Delivery of aid has been hindered by parties to the conflict in what is best described as a strategic weaponization of food. The use of food as a weapon in Yemen requires thorough investigation, but there is a lack of research on the topic. Through a qualitative analysis of the single case of Yemen, this study identifies several aspects of the strategy used to target food security, including diversion of aid but also disruptions of markets and decreased agricultural production. As a possible perspective is also to see this alternative form of warfare as a characteristic of the changed nature of modern conflict, this study further discusses how weaponization of food relates to the dynamics of New Wars. The findings show that parties to the conflict intentionally cause hunger through hindering food availability and reducing people’s access to food, through physical as well as economic methods. The findings further indicate that the purpose for using this strategy relies in part on the logics of New Wars. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9011318
- author
- Ekström, Joel LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- FKVK02 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Yemen, Starvation, New War, Weaponization, Food
- language
- English
- id
- 9011318
- date added to LUP
- 2020-09-21 11:52:14
- date last changed
- 2020-09-21 11:52:14
@misc{9011318, abstract = {{24 million people in war-torn Yemen were in 2019 in need of humanitarian aid. Delivery of aid has been hindered by parties to the conflict in what is best described as a strategic weaponization of food. The use of food as a weapon in Yemen requires thorough investigation, but there is a lack of research on the topic. Through a qualitative analysis of the single case of Yemen, this study identifies several aspects of the strategy used to target food security, including diversion of aid but also disruptions of markets and decreased agricultural production. As a possible perspective is also to see this alternative form of warfare as a characteristic of the changed nature of modern conflict, this study further discusses how weaponization of food relates to the dynamics of New Wars. The findings show that parties to the conflict intentionally cause hunger through hindering food availability and reducing people’s access to food, through physical as well as economic methods. The findings further indicate that the purpose for using this strategy relies in part on the logics of New Wars.}}, author = {{Ekström, Joel}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Food as a Weapon in Yemen - The targeting of food security in a New War}}, year = {{2020}}, }